travelworm

Trying to work out logistics for our final night in Italy. We'll check out of our hotel in Montecatini on Sunday morning. and drive to Milan, where we'll stay Sunday night at the Ibis hotel by Malpensa airport. We purchased tickets to the 5 PM show at La Scala. I realize that our hotel is quite a distance from the theater. What's the easiest (lowest hassle, not necessarily lowest cost) method for getting to the theater and back from Ibis hotel? Should we drive our rental car or leave it at the hotel? One idea I had was to drive the car to the Park Hyatt, which is a 5 minute walk to the theater. I thought we'd park at the Hyatt, walk to the theater, walk back to the Hyatt, have a bite to eat there and then drive back to Ibis.

asps

Well, explaining how to drive to S.Maria delle Grazie pales with explaining how to drive to La Scala. The opera house was built well before driving and parking were considered into urban planning and there is almost no parking space around, the only places being private autosilos (La Rinascente and the one at S. Babila being the closest ones). Even Park Hyatt uses valet parking to via Agnello (to the tune of eur 30 every 4 hours).

Remember that Malpensa is very distant from the city center, much more than the average airport. The easiest way would be taking taxis - taxis can drive routes closed to private cars, but the airport is so distant that a single run would be in the 80-100 range. Malpensa Express and taxis in Milan are the second easiest choice, at reasonable prices. Malpensa Express and metro are the third easiest choice, and the cheapest one. Any Malpensa Express is good, as the opera house is in the Duomo area, a few metro stops from both Cadorna and Centrale stations.

travelworm

asps, thank you so much for your reply! I'll definitely plan on leaving the car at the Ibis hotel. Malpensa Express and taxis sound like the way to go.

sandralist

How early is your flight out of Malpensa? My temptation would be to drop off the car before you go to the opera and spend the night in Milan itself. Next morning, take the train or bus to Malpensa.

You won't have time to sightsee on the way back from Montecatini to Milan, so my recommendation would be to drop the car in Tuscany and take the fast train back to Milano Centrale and stay at the Hotel Berna near the Milano Centrale train station. From there it is a quick taxi or subway ride to La Scala. Lots of places to have some dinner after the opera before turning in early. Next morning, walk 5 minutes to the buses that take you to Malpensa. Fifty minute ride.

Even if you prefer to drive, I would drop off the car at Linate, take the bus into town and stay at the Berna.

The Ibis hotel at Malpensa is not actually within the airport complex, so you would need to get up early out there anyway to either drive to the airport and spend time dropping off the car, or using the airport shuttle, which will make a couple of stops and run irregularly (if at all before 9am -- double check).

But if it were me, I would get rid of that 3 hour+ drive back to Milan. Just a slog. An easy way to drop off the car in Tuscany and take the train is to drop it off at Florence airport, take the airport shuttle to the main Florence train station, and then take the fast train to Milan (2 hours).

travelworm

sandralist, our flight is not until 3 PM the next day.

sandralist

Do you want to be stuck out at the airport all morning before you leave?

Again, I would prefer to take the fast train back rather than drive all those hours on the autostrade (especially if it turned out to be rainy that day), but even if wanted to drive I would want to return the car to Linate, rather than drive the extra hour to Malpensa, and then turn around and spend another hour getting back into Milan for the opera. You will need to budget 7 or more hours of travel time getting from Montecatini to La Scala by 5pm.

If you drop off the car at Linate, it is a shorter trip from Montecatini, and you can check into a Milan hotel with time to spare before 5pm. Not only can you have a nice late dinner after the opera without the bother of getting back to Malpensa the same night, the next morning when you get up you can enjoy more of Milan before heading out to the airport at about noon.

Another reason I would prefer to book a hotel in Milan rather than at Malpensa airport even if I planned to drive back is that if I wake up in Tuscany that morning and the weather is really terrible, them I could call the car rental agency and tell them I am dropping off the car in Tuscany and make a new plan to take the train. If I had booked a hotel at Malpensa, it would be complicated getting there and to the opera, or I would need to put my bags in left luggage at the train station to make it to the opera in time, and then have to pick them up again after the opera. I'd end up eating train station sandwiches all day! And that probably wouldn't be the worst of it.

To me it sounds so much easier to get rid of the car in Tuscany, take a comfortable fast train to Milan, check into a hotel, have lunch, dress for the opera, enjoy La Scala, have a nice dinner, sleep, do a little sightseeing the next morning, take the bus or train to the airport around noon